1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Towering Geatness, January 31, 2010
This review is from: Schwanengesang Song Cycle (Audio CD)
Whether you are looking for your first recording of Schubert's last songs or you are already well familiar with these masterpieces, this is a must have album.
Perhaps the greatest of all of M. van Dam's great lieder recordings, and vastly better than his disappointing Winterreise with Dalton Baldwin, van Dam presents deeply considered, passionately sung, even radical readings of these widely varied songs.
Tempos tend toward slow, especially broad, but never without good reason. Ergo, Kriegers Ahnung takes on epic weight; Am Meer profound tragedy. The lighter songs like Liebesbotschhaft and Abschied do not suffer from lethargy: rather they are energized but not rushed.
M. van Dam's partner is Valery Affanasiev, who I will hesitate to call an accompanist. Never recessive, he tears boldly into the heart of each piece, and thankfully van Dam is confident enough to let him.
The songs are presented in their original published order, not, as some recent issues like Goerne and Skohvus have done, grouped by poet. Included also is Herbst, a song not discovered until the 1890s, linked by period, style and poet to the Schwanengesang pseudo-cycle.
Jose van Dam recorded nearly all of his song recitals for the defunct Forlane label. Used copies of this and his other best recordings are going for $70 and more. The MP3 album download is $8.99. Song texts and program notes are readily available online. You positively cannot go wrong with this.
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